Ventilating curtain



April 15, 1969 D. TAMES VENTILATING CURTAIN Filed May 9, 1967 FIG] FIG.4

FIG.3

FIG.2

FIG.6

INVENTOR. Daniel Tamas AT TORNEY United States Patent 3,438,422VENTILATING CURTAIN Daniel Tames, Chicago, Ill., assignor to DowlingTextile Manufacturing Company, McDonough, Ga. Filed May 9, 1967, Ser.No. 637,183 Int. Cl. A4711 23/00 US. Cl. 160--237 3 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A ventilating curtain made of flame-resistant fabric thatincludes a body portion connected to an apertured header portion. Theheader portion being formed by a plurality of intersecting sets ofstrips that are interconnected to form a lattice to insure the free flowof air therethrough.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates generally to a ventilating curtain and more particularly to ahospital cubicle ventilating curtain that is suspended from the ceilingto ensure privacy.

Description of the prior art Most hospital rooms are provided with twoor more beds so that patients can share room facilities and thus reducethe cost and expense of medical services when a persons illness requireshim to become a patient in a hospital.

When rooms are shared by two or more patients, it is customary toprovide a slidable curtain that is hung from frames suspended from theceiling to form a cubicle around each bed and thus insure privacy whenneeded. The curtain is usually constructed having a body portion and atop header portion, with the header portion being formed of nylon havingan eye mesh or square mesh weave to ensure the flow of air therethrough.It has been found, however, that the ventilating characteristic of theaforesaid header portion is considerably reduced as a result ofair-borne cotton lint that is normally attracted to said header portionby the static electricity present in nylon.

The present invention eliminates the above problem by providing a headerportion having a lattice type of construction to ensure the free flow ofair therethrough, and thus provide a better ventilating curtain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The ventilating curtain of the presentinvention includes a body portion and a header portion both made offlameresistant fabric to protect the patient against the accidentalstarting of fires. The header portion has a plurality of openingstherein being separated from each other by vertically and horizontallyextending sets of intersecting strips that are interconnected to form alattice. One end of the vertically extending strips is secured to thetop edge of the body portion and the other end of said verticallyextending strips is secured to the top-most horizontally extendingstrip. A binding portion is then secured to the respective side edges ofthe body portion and to the edges of the horizontally extending stripsto form side bindings for the entire curtain. Eyelet means are furtherprovided in the top-most horizontally extending strip to permit thecurtain to be slidably aflixed to a supporting structure which thusforms a cubicle around a hospital bed to insure privacy when needed. Thelattice type of construction permits the free flow of air therethroughand provides better ventilation than the eye mesh and/or square meshnylon type header, which as previ- 3,438,422 Patented Apr. 15, 1969 iceously noted, becomes easily covered wtih cotton lint or dust andprevents the free circulation of air.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide aventilating curtain that permits the free flow of air therethrough.

Another object and feature of the present invention is to provide aventilating curtain that can be used in a hospital to form a cubiclearound a patients bed to ensure privacy.

A further object and feature of the present invention is to provide ahospital cubicle curtain that is economical to manufacture and giveslong lasting service.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view ofthe ventilating curtain constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken through line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken through line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken through line 55 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken through line 6-6 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings,numeral 10 represents a hospital cubicle curtain, preferably made ofopaque fablie that is treated to retain fire-retardant qualities toprovide maximum safety for hospital rooms. The curtain is provided witha body portion 12 and a header portion 14 which are connected to oneanother in a manner hereinafter described.

The body portion 12 is preferably constructed of one piece of fabric,thus having no vertical seams. The bottom edge 16 of said body portion12 is turned over to form a bottom hem 18 and is closed by means ofstitching 20. The top edge 22 of said body portion 12 is turned over andinturned, as shown in FIG. 3, to form a 3-ply top hem 24. The top hem 24serves to connect the body portion 12, of curtain 10, to the headerportion 14.

The header portion 14 is constructed of vertically and horizontallyextending sets of intersecting strips, 26 and 28 respectively,interconnected to form a lattice. In the preferred embodiment, each ofsaid strips 26 and 28 is formed of two superimposed pieces of fabrichaving inturned facing side edge portions 30 and 32 secured together bymeans of stitching 34. The arrangement is such that the horizontallyextending strips 28 are closed completely over the vertically extendingstrips 26 as shown in FIG. 2, to prevent lint or other bacteria carriersfrom collecting inside said strips.

Referring to FIG. 4, one end 36 of the vertically extending strips 26 isinserted within the top hem 24 of body portion 12, with said top hemthen being closed by means of stitching 38. Each of the verticallyextending strips is then turned upwardly and further secured to the tophem 24 by means of bar tack 40. The other end 42 of said verticallyextending strips 26 is inserted between the two superimposed pieces offabric constituting the topmost horizontally extending strip, with saidtop-most horizontally extending strip then being closed by means ofstitching 44, as shown in FIG. 5. The top-most horizontally extendingstrip thus becomes, in effect, the top binding portion of curtain 10.

Curtain 10 is further provided with side binding portions 46, eachhaving first and second portions 48 and 50, respectively. The sidebinding portions 46 are formed of flame-resistant fabric with the firstportions 48, folded over the respective side edges of body portion 12and the second portions 50 folded over the ends of the horizontallyextending strips 28. The side edges of binding portions 46 are thenturned inwardly, as shown in FIG. 6, and closed by means of stitching52. The ends of the binding portions 46 are also closed by means of atriangular shaped row of stitches 54.

The curtain is further provided with a plurality of spaced eyelets 56located at the juncture of the vertically extending strips 26 and thetop-most horizontally extending strip 28. Additional eyelets are alsoprovided at the juncture of the side binding portions 46 and the ends ofthe top-most horizontal strip 28. The eyelets 56 are reinforced by meansof stitching 58 and serve to slidably afiix the curtain to a supportingstructure by means of conventional hooks.

There are no pleats, twists, rolls or raw edges in any of the parts ofthe above curtain and the fabric thereof can be dyed in decorativecolors.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed in detail, it will be readily understood and appreciated thatvarious changes or modifications thereof may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims. For example, the lattice construction could be such that thevertically extending strips close completely over the horizontallyextending strips. In this event, the end edges of the verticallyextending strips that close over the top-most horizontal strip should beturned inwardly and closed by stitching to eliminate the presence of anyraw edges.

I claim:

1. A ventilating curtain for use with a supporting structure, saidcurtain comprising in combination:

(a) a body portion and a header portion;

(b) said body portion being formed of fabric having turned over hemportions at the top and bottom edges thereof;

() said header portion having a plurality of openings therein beingdefined by vertically and horizontally sets of intersecting strips offabric interconnected to form a lattice;

(d) means for fixedly securing together said interconnected strips atthe respective intersecting junctures thereof;

(e) means for fixedly securing one end of the vertically extendingstrips within the top hem portion of said body portion, and means forfixedly securing the other end of said vertically extending strips tothe top-most horizontally extending strip;

(f) a binding portion comprising strips of fabric having a first portionfixedly secured to the respective side edges of said body portion and asecond portion projecting above the top edge of said body portion;

(g) means for fixedly securing the second portion of said bindingportion to the end edges of said horizontally extending strips; and

(h) means for slidably afiixing said curtain to said supportingstructure.

2. The ventilating curtain as recited in claim 1, wherein the means forslidably aflixing said curtain to said supporting structure includes aplurality of spaced eyelets in the top-most horizontally extending stripand located at the juncture of said vertically extending strips and thetop-most horizontally extending strip.

3. The ventilating curtain as recited in claim 1, Wherein the means forslidably aflixing said curtain to said supporting structure includes aneyelet in the second portion of said binding portion and located at thejuncture of said second binding portion and the end edges of saidtop-most horizontal strip.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,046 12/1934 Picco -2372,804,138 8/1957 Nichols 160348 3,160,202 12/1964 Rosen 160-348 X3,321,003 5/1967 Boerner 160237 PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner.

